Minibrix

Article summary

Minibrix were construction kits manufactured from 1935 to 1976 in the UK. Developed in 1935, they enabled children to build their own miniature houses. Like the later and more famous construction toy, Lego, Minibrix consisted primarily of interlocking bricks with moulded studs on the surface, but being invented before the availability of modern plastics they were made of hard rubber which had the necessary ability to deform under pressure to allow firm interlocking of studs and holes. When new this rubber gave firm interlocking; but, as surfaces rubbed away, cohesion lessened until components held together mainly by gravity. [Cite: personal experience.] Minibrix were made by the Premo Rubber Company which traditionally made rubber shoe heels. Premo was a subsidiary of the I.T.S. Rubber Company, which had been founded in 1919 by Arnold Levy, and was located at Sandringham Road, Petersfield, Hampshire, England. The origin of the Minibrix idea is unclear but Arnold may have seen the fibre-interlocking toy bricks of the early 1930s introduced by the Erector Company in America and the rubber interlocking bricks, called 'Bild-O-Brik' made in Pennsylvania, in 1934.…

Key claims

1. date of foundation: 1919 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95

Discussion questions

1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
2. The record states that the date of foundation is "1919". What evidence would count against this claim?
3. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
4. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

Bibliography

1. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1329137303